A Guidebook to Starting a small business in European regions
This project and the creation of this guidebook have been funded with support from the European Commission.
Index Foreword... 5 General ideas... 6 SWOT... 7 General procedures... 9 Marketing strategies and examples... 11 Different aspects in different countries... 16 Conclusion... 19 Glossary... 19-3-
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Foreword The story behind the guidebook The Erasmus+ project started in autumn 2015 with four schools from Sweden, Germany, Poland and Italy. The first meeting was in Poland. Eight students and two teachers from each school came and the students stayed with host families. Further meetings were in Sweden, Italy, Germany and again in Sweden and Italy. During the meetings we learnt a lot about founding small businesses, and at the fifth meeting in Sweden we started creating this guidebook, which was one of our goals. This guidebook is about founding a business in the countries represented in the project. The guidebook was written by students aged from 12 to 16. We tried to make it easier for young people to understand how to start a small business by themselves. This book can make it easier for you to understand everything concerning businesses. It will explain everything from an idea to registering a business. These are the schools participating in the project: Italy: Our school in Italy is called 2 Istituto Comprensivo Giuseppe Melodia and has about 850 students. It is located in Noto, Sicily. Poland: Our school in Poland is called Szkoła Podstawowa nr 2 im. Jana Pawła II w Suchym Lesie and has about 640 students. It is located in Suchy Las, Poznań. Sweden: Our school from Sweden is called Tegelviken and has about 450 students. Tegelviken is located in Kvicksund Eskilstuna. Germany: Our school is called Ubbo-Emmius Gymnasium Leer and has about 1400 students. It is located in Leer, Lower Saxony. On our project website you can find all the work we have done and more information about the project. You can also find evaluations of each meeting. URL: http://www.europupils-in-business.eu/ -5-
General ideas: You will need an idea to start your business. The first and the most important thing is the idea. The idea is what will build your business. The idea means the choice of field where you would like to start your business. How much time and effort are you willing to put into your business? The amount of time and effort you put into your business will reflect your success. If you want a successful business, you must be ready to work for it. Your product/service line is up to you, but try to do something that the people in your country need because that is obviously going to sell better. And if your products are made from things that you have a lot of near you, the material will lower the costs of production because of cheaper transportation. Try to keep up with what the people want and often update your products/services. You will need to establish your costs and income. How are you going to spend your money and invest in the business? You will probably have to borrow money from a bank to start and later on pay it back. Try to get some money from the government and European funds to help you out in the beginning. Consider the fact that there might be other businesses that do the same thing and could outcompete yours. If you sell or provide something that is popular in your location try to lower the price, so the customers will buy from you instead of your competitors. Make sure to advertise your prices so the people get to know about it. Try to have a good view of your business s future, include your competitors in your future plan and try to have an idea of how they are going to expand and grow bigger. Have a plan for how it will look like in 3 years, set goals, how you will achieve these goals. If you are planning to make any big investments you should set up a small plan on how you are going to get through with it. How much do you want your business to expand? If you want your business to grow big and successful, big investments are important. Such investments can often mean taking a risk but that is a part of being a businessman. You should try to open more stores/factories and hire more people to expand your business. -6-
SWOT A SWOT analysis is a useful process that identifies a business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, which can be an asset for both developed and new businesses. The analysis presents an overview for the business's internal and external factors from a different angle. Carrying out a SWOT analysis you may get information about what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve the desired results. The analysis is vital to new businesses because it is practical for the business planning process which also helps them to stay on the right track. It also helps the entrepreneurs to develop a strong business strategy because it advises them on what the marketplace may look like. The information that has been given from the SWOT can help the entrepreneur to understand where the business is today and what is necessary to do in order to pursue the goal. Strengths: It describes the advantages the business has and what may distinguish it from other competitors. The strengths are within your control. What advantages do you have? What are you doing better than your competitors? Does the business have strong development capabilities? What are your business unique selling propositions? What other positive aspects does your business have which adds value or offers you a competitive advantage? Weaknesses: A weakness is internal to a business. It is a condition that a business has which is considered as a disadvantage. What could you improve? What should you avoid? What are people in your market likely to see as weaknesses? What factors lose you sales? -7-
Opportunities: This subject explains the business different factors that have an opportunity to develop into positive outcomes. What good opportunities can you spot? What interesting trends are you aware of? Can your business develop by taking part in social events? Threats: Like opportunities, threats are external and contain any aspects that could cause damage to your business. The threats are certain challenges that your business may have to face during the whole process. It helps the business to do strategic decisions regarding the products or services. What obstacles will you have to face? What are your competitors doing? Are quality standards or specifications for your job, products or services changing? Is changing technology threatening your position? Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems? Could any of your weaknesses seriously threaten your business? -8-
General procedures Hopefully, when you read this guide, you already have a general idea of what your business is going to sell. Is it a service? Will you sell food? Whatever your idea is, it most likely has room for improvement. Think of how you can make your product more unique and desirable. After that you ll need to analyse the market to get an understanding of similar products/services and how big the competition is. A crucial part of starting your business is researching the market and demand for that product/service, otherwise you will stand there with a product that is unoriginal and that is very hard to sell. Plenty of entrepreneurs have problems with starting a business. Let s say they have an amazing idea, but they don t know how to open an actual business. Many countries, counties, boroughs and other private organizations offer help and support. There is, as written above, plenty of organizations, for example in Sweden there is a place called Nyföretagarcentrum, in Poland there is a website called BIZNES.GOV.PL. When you are finished with your counselling and such, you should now know how to create your business plan. This is used to convince banks to give you loans and to convince investors to invest. You can look at different statistical bureaus or offices where you can find statistics about your region or your country on relevant facts, for example if your opening a hair salon you might want to check how many different salons there are in your area. Your business plan can contain but is not limited to: Name of the business How you will make money Approximately how much you will earn/lose the first 3 years SWOT Analysis Obviously, money is very important if you want to start a business and a strong business plan as mentioned will make funding easier to obtain. You can get the European Funds from the EU, around 50,000 Euros. -9-
You can also crowdfund to help start up your business. Private investors are also a way to get funds. The legal part is different in all countries. Look if you need to obtain special identification, for example the NIP and REGON numbers in Poland. Financial Departments have information on how to pay taxes and duties. You have to pay tax on the profit and other incomes from the business. You should purchase a business insurance, which is a package that includes a variety of insurances that cover different accidents and expenses. If you want to start a business you need to have a place or an office. You should think about the best possible location so that it is easy for your customers to reach you. Buy nice furniture and take care of the interior design, because you want it to look pleasing and inviting. Make sure that the place you are renting is comfortable and convenient for you and your co-workers. Maybe consider putting up your logo and some advertisements. You as an entrepreneur will benefit from insurances. There is plenty of different business insurances that offer both social security (unemployment, health and pension) and other kinds of insurances like loss of earnings, inventory insurance, and you can get the optional insurances like accident insurances. You can also get a domain and create your website. We recommend buying a domain so nobody can steal the URL. Your website can be referred to in ads and contain information about your business. You ll also need it to spread your product/service to as many people as possible. The way you advertise may be diverse depending on the target group, for example teenagers use social medias, so if you advertise on places like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, you will reach the targeted audience. -10-
Marketing strategies and examples Marketing is when you advertise or in some way let people know about your business. In order to grow your business, you need a marketing strategy. Marketing strategies are different ways of advertising your business and a way of showing your business to other people, so that they know you exist and so that they may buy your product or service. You need a marketing strategy for your business to increase sales and to receive a competitive advantage because it s the only thing that makes people find out about your business. In order for people to recognise and remember your business you will need a logo, preferably a logo that has a connection to your business and its name and have an original and nice-looking design. Here are some examples of marketing strategies that we think might be effective: Classical means of advertising a business are newspaper ads and posters, which are exemplified by the Polish school's business idea "Pegasus": -11-
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One strategy is to have a friendship or partnership with another business so that you advertise and help out each other. For an example you can hand out each other's business cards (see example of Café Kvikt below) or you can give offers like if you purchase something expensive at one of the companies you receive a sale for when you buy at the other business the next time. Having a page on a social media (see examples of facebook and twitter campaigns for the German "SchokiDoki", an Instagram page of Café Kvickt and a LinkedIn site for "Pamper your dog" below) can be a good marketing strategy, because it can help you reach more people and it lets people know about your business. You can also make special offers and/or competitions where the followers can win prizes: -13-
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Beyond these, your business would profit from its own website, as Pamper your dog's example of the Italian school shows: -15-
Different aspects in different countries: Registration In Poland, Sweden you can register your company on the Internet and that could be quite nice because you can stay at home while starting your own company, but in Germany you have to register it in the IHK (Chamber of Industry and Commerce) and at the commercial office, and in Italy, if you want to register a business, you must go to a notary who registers your business in the Chamber of Commerce; only if you want to register an innovative startup can you do it online. If you want to start a business in Poland, your first steps should be to the Town Hall. In each Town Hall there is a business department where you can obtain all necessary information, help and support. Business registration is quite an easy process in Poland. You can register a business at your nearest Town Hall or on the Internet. In order to register your own business, you have to fill in a form that is available on https://ceidg.gov.pl. Taxes When you run a business in Poland, you are obliged to pay various taxes. Depending on the type of business activity, chosen taxation form and other factors your obligations concerning particular taxes may differ significantly. In Sweden when you have a corporation business you have to pay an A-tax and a local tax, but they re combined into one called F-tax which you have to apply and get approved for by the ministry of taxes (skatteverket). It s a tax you pay each month where the preliminary amount is based on how much money you re expected to earn each month as a company. You also have to apply for FA-tax and Arbetsgivaravgift (fee for the employer). You apply for the FA-tax on the ministry of taxes (skatteverket), which is where you apply for the arbetsgivaravgift as well. When you apply for the arbetsgivaravgift you have to give the following information: 1. Date for the first payment of wage 2. The number of months per year that you're going to pay wages. 3. The estimated number of employees you will have during the year. -16-
4. The estimated worth of wages you will pay during the first 12 months. In Germany they have a lot of different kinds of taxes, profit tax, purchase tax, capital-based taxes, income tax, corporation tax, occupational tax and value tax. In Italy businesses are subjected to IRAP which is a regional tax and IRES which is a tax on their source income. Every taxpayer in Poland needs a special number called NIP. This applies to both entrepreneurs and other citizens that start earning money. You can apply for that number at the nearest Financial Department. You can also find a lot of details on their website on how to pay taxes and duties:www.wielkopolskie.kas.gov.pl/urzad-skarbowy-poznanwinogrady Banks Swedish banks offer a lot of advice for businesses, too. For example, Handelsbanken has got a corporation package which includes online banking and a business credit card. Of course, they also offer advice and ideas on how to run your business. Polish banks are similar to Swedish banks since they also offer a lot of advice on how to start and run your business. In Italy there are three types of financing support: the state, the regions and the provinces. Italian banks can give grants which is a form of financing dedicated to young entrepreneurs and start-up. This is a type of subsidized credit which provides neither the return of principal loan nor interest accrued on it. In Germany you ll get a bank loan and financial support for production equipment only if the business is solid enough to survive for at least three years. In Poland we have a variety of banks that offer financial support to entrepreneurs, which includes special loans that have the best terms and conditions for small businesses. Help organisations In Sweden there are plenty of support organisations who can help you start and evolve your business. In Eskilstuna for example there is Nyföretagarcentrum, but of course there are similar things all around Sweden. -17-
In Suchy Las in Poland they have just opened up an institution to help smaller companies and they give you some advice, and the banks are also supportive with money. In Italy there are no-profit associations that provide, through an online platform, information on launching a startup business and how to get funding. When you're starting a company in Germany you will get money from several supporting organisations. From the age of 7, you can create your own business and get support. To qualify for this you need to have a registered business, and you only need yourself to start your own business. In Poland there are institutions and offices offering support to young people who would like to start a business. They advise entrepreneurs how to get funds from the EU and support from the government. Each entrepreneur needs a professional website. There are companies that offer some IT help. We also have small companies that can help you with paying taxes, accounting and finding employees. -18-
Conclusion We hope that with our guidebook we have contributed to a better understanding of how to start a small business in different European regions and to inspiring you to cooperate on a European scale. This brochure is meant to help you find your way. In the three years of work, we have expanded our knowledge about business and different cultures. We have gained wisdom in our own nations as well as in the exchange with the other countries; by working on the project before and after the meetings. We have improved our English skills visiting other countries and working in international groups. The teams gained information about how to start a business in different European regions. Discussions about the differences in registration, taxes, banks and help organizations took place between students. Everyone involved in the project has taken great pride in being part of educating students on entrepreneurship. Beyond everything that we have learned about businesses we have made a lot of friends throughout the years. Getting together with people from four different countries has given us the opportunity to explore new cultures and improve our English. We have also experienced both being guests and hosts. We have discovered that communication between different nations can be achieved and is not as complicated as it may seem. As a group, we have had a lot of fun working and spending time together. So you as a young entrepreneur may also open up to new ideas and be ready for the future. Glossary While working on the project, we have been collecting all important English business terms and phrases and translated them into the languages of our countries. This way, we have a huge compendium on business expressions in five languages, which we hope can be a useful tool in international business. The words appear in alphabetical order and are marked as verbs (v), nouns (n), or adjectives. -19-
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The guidebook, along with other products, publications, and the evaluations of the meetings and the project, can be visited on our website http://www.europupils-in-business.eu/, which can also be accessed using the QR-code below. -26-
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